


living like we're renegades

by thecoilsofnikolatesla



Category: Fallout 3
Genre: Established Relationship, M/M, Mild Hurt/Comfort, Oneshot, Protectiveness, Sappy
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-06-23
Updated: 2016-06-23
Packaged: 2018-07-16 20:53:34
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 872
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7284358
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/thecoilsofnikolatesla/pseuds/thecoilsofnikolatesla
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>james ponders his luck as he lays aside a sleeping jonas in megaton. he can hardly believe his luck when his efforts to escape the vault prove twice as successful as he intended. he never savored the idea of leaving jonas in the vault, even if it was what would keep him safe -- but he has to wonder how blessed he is.</p><p>(au where jonas survives and leaves vault 101 with james.)</p>
            </blockquote>





	living like we're renegades

he couldn't believe what his eyes were showing him, in those precious moments between the edge of night and the beginning of dawn. soft, lightly wrinkled features, peacefully shut eyes, lips barely parted as jonas breathed.

breathing. james' throat tightened and his hand darted from being clutched close to his own chest to jonas' face, caressing his brow.

jonas' eyes were shut in well-earned sleep as james lay beside him, awake, unlikely to sleep that night as megaton settled in the dust around them. it was all new again but just enough to still be familiar to james -- the sky, the ground solid beneath him, the world as it was, as he had known -- what was it to jonas, he wondered, who had known with certainty the rules?

_we are born in the vault, we live in the vault, and we die in the vault._

he'd entered that vault hurting, alone, cradling a child close to him because they were all he had left of a life. he left that vault panicked and afraid but hand-in-hand with someone. the warning bells tolling behind them. shouts of security guards. the run-in with security in the overseer's office that james had only barely managed to drag jonas away from.

 _thank god for these small mercies,_ he thought as he gently brushed a thumb over a bruise on jonas' cheekbone. the way his glasses had fallen to the floor and shattered -- they'd had to run, keep running, his heart too tight in his chest as he'd all but thrown jonas in the escape tunnel. 

james didn't know what he would have done if something had happened to jonas on the way out. jonas' chest rose and fell with each breath and james continued to marvel quietly at this man who had followed him so resolutely through it all.

"you're bad at keeping secrets, doc," jonas had said one day, not long before james had caved and told him everything.

(everything. catherine, project purity, doctor li, _everything._ )

"as far as you know," was the best reply james could come up with at the time, not meeting his eye.

now he couldn't tear his gaze away.

"jonas," he whispered, but jonas didn't stir. he preferred it that way. it was more his way to cement that he wasn't the only one sleeping in this dingy room in moriarty's. 

he continued tracing his fingers along his collarbone as the dawn crept up on them. james let his eyes fall shut even though he knew he wouldn't sleep, just savored the feeling of jonas' skin against his fingers and the weight of the other man against his side.

if he'd had his way, jonas and his child would be safe in vault 101 together, of course. nothing would give him more comfort than knowing they were safe together. he knew he wold be lonely, but that was a given -- neither of them knew wasteland life the way james did, the way it tore you from inside out and made sure only the resilient lived. but he didn't relish the thought of leaving both of them there.

"i'm going with you, you know." 

and that was it. there was no dissuading him, no matter what james did, no matter how many wasteland creatures or ways to die in the wasteland he listed off. just the steel in jonas' dark brown eyes when he told james what he was doing.

even so. jonas, there with him and close and alive. nothing short of a miracle. hair splayed out by james as he rested.

james was going to protect jonas palmer with every bone in his body, every fiber of his being. for whatever reason this man trusted him and he was not going to get him killed in the wasteland for all his faith. 

his eyes had fallen open again as the first rays of sunlight peeked in the crevices in the walls. jonas looked so soft in the golden light. his throat tightened -- jonas wasn't ready for this wasteland, was gentle and kind and quick with a laugh and not a gun.

 _all the more reason to protect him_ , he reasoned, planting a kiss to his temple as the other man's eyes fluttered open. _jonas will not die his mother’s death._

he regarded his surroundings with half a second of confusion before settling his gaze on james, confusion gone. "morning," he said quietly.

"morning."

a pause, then jonas slipped his hand to james', still hovering around his cheek. "did you sleep at all?"

"i did. not as much as you did, but i slept. after that run-in with security i figured you ought to rest."

jonas shut his eyes again, shifting closer to james. "do we have to get going now?"

"the sun's barely risen. we can wait."

morning crept in around them slowly, both of them awake to appreciate it now, one for the millionth time and one for the first.

"jonas."

"hm?"

"i love you. you know that, don't you?"

he laughed, just once, just gently, into james' chest. (james could feel him wince in pain. _get stimpaks later_ , he thought.)

"i know. i love you too, james. always have."

\--

miracles happened every day. jonas taught him that.

**Author's Note:**

> i cant believe jonas and james got married and raised the lw together ? ???? ?


End file.
